Monday, 19 June 2017

Responding to a Call to Action • Chitra Soundar

We’re
living in strange times – where dystopia is no longer confined to the pages of
a novel. Around us we find fear and insecurity, differences and intolerances
turn into political ideology and public policy.

How
does a children’s book writer get involved? My readers are wee people who do
not understand constitution or right to vote. Many are perhaps not even potty
trained. What could I possibly do to bring about change?

Good
picture books have multiple layers and meanings. While it deals with a child’s
emotion in a child’s world from the point of view of a child, it also has an
adult reader, often. Many picture books are read aloud by sleepy-eyed parents,
novice aunts and uncles doing bedtime as a novelty or grandparents who are
amazed at how much books have changed over the years.

Any
topic being discussed – whether hidden inside a story or a narrative that
explains a concept – space, dinosaurs, trucks need to appeal to the child first
and foremost. Then it needs to engage the adult reader too. If it manages both,
then of course reading it over and over again becomes less of a chore.

So
as a writer in this complex political world, I have two voters for every read –
a contemporary voter who hopefully would vote in the next election (by the
looks of it, we might have it regularly like an annual summer event) and a
child voter who is the future of this nation. This captive audience is looking
for a story. A story that they can enjoy, laugh with, think about and perhaps
learn from. A story that doesn’t beat the moral over the reader’s head but
through its nuanced plot elements, leads us to the inevitable but surprising
ending.

As
I watched the election results trickle by, as the nation rejoiced of a hung
parliament, I realised I have an obligation to stand up and tell stories thata)promote equality, diversity, empathy and
compassionb)children
of all colour, abilities and gender in a positive lightc)give us hope instead of despair; joy in
the face of adversity.

Many
of us remember the books we read as kids. Many of us have learnt some crucial
things about life from books. So what better way to equip the voters of
tomorrow? What better way to prepare the minds of young readers than give them
stories that they can apply in real life that will bring about a better society
for everyone?

Children’s
writers have an important role in these interesting times. Whether we are talking
about underpants or wishing the rabbit good night, we need to make our
characters stand up for something. They need to find their way in these murky
times through stories we tell and stories we equip them to tell.

This
is the time to bring out stories that empower our children with skills and
sensitivity to live in an integrated society, where we do not fear “the other”
and “the unknown.” And the good news is many writers are already doing this.
There are books out there that show us “others” are not different. Like
Siddhartha Mukherjee says in his book The Gene – An Intimate History, we are
more similar than different as human beings.

On
13th June, Empathy Lab UK initiated a new celebration called EmpathyDay and on that day, we all tweeted our recommended reads. I’ve started
collecting them all here. If you know of a book that inspires empathy, promotes
togetherness and brings us together, then do post in the comments below or
tweet it out with hashtag #ReadForEmpathy.

Let’s
help raise better citizens for tomorrow.

Chitra Soundar is a closet
clown, consummate liar, writer and storyteller. Find out more at www.chitrasoundar.com or follow her on Twitter at @csoundar.

5 comments:

Definitely an important topic - thanks for the post, Chitra. I've certainly found my writing becoming a lot more political over the last year, and I'm sure that's true of many of us. As you say, balancing the political and the personal is the trick.

Seeing the world from the point of view of others is vital and I think that in a roundabout way a great many picture books emphasise this. There are so many books about sharing and this is a first step towards empathy, eg 'The First Slodge' by Jeanne Willis and Jenni Desmond, and even my 'Best Friends or Not?' (Paeony Lewis, illus by Gaby Hansen) is about compromise when the little polar bears don't want to play the same games. The theme of accepting others who are different is also prevalent, eg T-Veg (the story of a carrot-crunching dinosaur) by Smriti Prasadam-Halls and Katherina Manolessou. 'Mirror' by Jeannie Baker (Walker Books 2010) is the most obvious example I can think of that tackles empathy head on. This book is about how different two families may appear on the surface(one is an Arabic family from Morocco and the other family from Sydney, Australia) but what's inside is similar. 'Knight Time' by Jane Clarke and Jane Massey also deals with this (human vs dragon)in a very child-friendly way and is also about becoming friends with others who appear different. Other examples of this are 'Max and Bird' by Ed Vere and 'Croc and Bird' by Alexis Deacon.Sometimes I think it's also good to read books about cultures and places that aren't familiar, so the unfamiliar is seen as interesting, not 'alien', eg 'Zeraffa Giraffa' by Dianne Hofmeyr and Jane Ray, based on the true story of a giraffe that in 1827 was sent as a gift from Egypt to France.So many wonderful books!